The Alternate
by Faith360
Summary: AU. We are in way over our heads, we've even turned the Andalites against us. Not all of them, we've got three on our side. They're all we need. TobiasRachel, JakeCassie, AxEstrid, MarcoOC, TobyOC
1. Tobias: That Was Weird

**Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs, or anything recognizable. **

"I'm going to do it. I'm sorry, but I have too." Rachel said those words with fear in her eyes.

"I know, I'm not trying to stop you." I said, trying to prepare myself for what I was about to do.

"I just wanted to say, be careful out there." As soon as the words left my mouth, I did it. I never thought I would ever have the courage to, but I did. I kissed Rachel; strong, confident beautiful Rachel. She stood there for a minute, as if trying to figure out what I had done. Then, as if she understood what I had just told her, she kissed me back. Not like what I had done, I mean kissed. We sat there for about five minutes. Until...

"Sorry." But of course, not just any sorry. A long, drawn out, sarcastic, Marco type sorry. Right then I wished Marco wasn't so nosy. I looked back at Rachel, she nodded. As if she knew what I wanted to do. Two minutes later, there I was - fully hawk - on top of Marco. With Rachel beside me in her grizzly morph. Then Jake decided to show up. Followed by Cassie. He ran in the room, and I mean ran. He was in his tiger morph, Cassie in her wolf. He stopped right infront of me.

(I see you already got him.) Jake said, said satisfaction in his voice. He turned to look at Marco.

(Marco! What kind of sick joke was that?!) Jake asked, obviously annoyed. By this time Marco had gotten up.

"I just happened to be getting a soda, and I just happend to walk by." Marco replied.

(Just like you HAPPENED to be getting a soda five minutes ago?) Rachel shouted, emphasis on the word 'happened'.

"No, I was going to find Ax." He said, trying to defend himself.

(Right.) I said, it sounded alot like Marco's 'sorry' when he walked in on us.

"No seriously. I thought he might want a soda too. The guy loves taste." He was still trying to defend himself. Notice the word 'trying', it wasn't working.

(Did someone need me?) Ax walked in, fully andalite, obviously at the sound of his name.

(Yeah. We need you to kick Marco's butt.) Obviously Rachel speaking.

(What has he done? Is this another one of your jokes?) Ax was obviously confused.

(Not exactly.) Cassie had spoken for the first time since she walked in. (We're just mad at him for...) She trailed off, she obviously didn't want us to know what she was doing. And I was with her, I did NOT want to blurt out to the rest of the group, especially Jake, that Rachel and I had been kissing. I wouldn't, but Marco would. I morphed back to human. That way if he decided to say anything, I could cover his mouth. The others followed and soon we were all human again.

(Cassie. You did not finish, please continue.)

"Actually Ax, it was nothing, really. It was just a misunderstanding that's all." She was trying to aviod the subject, I completely agreed with her.

"Yeah. Marco was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." I added, but I knew he wouldn't drop it.

(All right.) Then he walked out. I didn't think he'd drop it so quickly. That was weird, for Ax at least. But I couldn't argue with that. Jake had walked off, along with Cassie. Now all that was left was me, Rachel, and Marco.

"If you say one word, if you even make a joke that has to do with that..."

"Ok I get it, I'm toast. I won't say anything ok?? Just like I won't say what happened to Jake and Cassie." He got the point.

"You better." She added, still angry. Marco walked out. Leaving us alone.

"That was an odd episode." I said. And I really meant it.

"We've seen weirder. But yeah, that was pretty weird."


	2. Rachel: Of Course

"I..I..." Those words cam stuttering out of my mouth. I'd promised myself I wouldn't be one of those sappy soap opera girls and stutter on the word 'I'. I thought it couldn't be that hard just to say 'yes' or 'no'. But when you're actually there... things are different. I couldn't say anything, I wanted to say 'Yes, of course I will. Did you have to ask?'. But I couldn't, I was too shocked. I was formulating every possible outcome in my mind.

"If you need some time I - " Tobias started.

"No." I replied. "I'm fine. I just took me a minute to come back to reality."

"Well? I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but, I really want to know." Tobias said.

"Of course I will." I got it out, hallelujah! Then he smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. He just glowed. He got up and kissed me good 'n' hard. I loved it. It wasn't the first time he had kissed me, but this time was different. I pulled away when I felt something cold on my hand I looked down to see Tobais had slipped the ring on my finger. It didn't have diamonds or anything, it was just plastic. But that didn't matter. It came from Tobias, it was the thought that counted. Tobias locked me in a warm embrace, I never wanted to leave.

"You don't know how much I don't deserve you." He told me, as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"I love you." I didn't mean to say that. I meant it though. He lifted my face to look at him.

"You'll never know how much that means to me, coming from you." He told me, and oh, there they go again. His eyes, they've always had this look of loneliness, of pain. But lately, whenever I was with him, all that dissappeared. All that pain, all that loneliness, was replaced with love and joy.

"I love you more than anything" He told me. He gently kissed me. Oh, how I wanted us just to stand there for the rest of our lives, but I knew that couldn't happen. We had a war to fight. We had to be strong, for our families, for our friends, and for each other. We would be strong. Tomorrow we were going to battle, I was going to win. We, were going to win, we, were going to survive, we, were going to be with each other for the rest of our lives.


	3. Jake: She Can't Be Gone

No, shoot no. This cannot be happening. It leaped on her, she screamed, she fell, there was a fleeting glimpse of blue, then the image dissapeared. It's my fault, it's my fault she's dead and I know it. Rachel, my cousin, the one who had the courage to destroy the yeerks, tell Tobias she loved him, then die. None of us moved, we just stood there, trying to regain control. It wasn't going to work. We would never recover from this, Tom and Rachel are dead. So are a thousand others, and so are the yeerks. _TTSSSSEEEEEEWWW_ Next thing I knew I was standing in the middle of the Hork-Bajir valley.

"How the heck did we get here?" I asked.

"Umm. Aliens?" Marco suggested, I stared daggers at him. I wasn't in the mood for his antics.

"What are you guys doing here?" Eva asked.

"We have no clue. One minute we were in a ship, the next we're here." I said, we heard a rustling. Eva, Marco, and I turned to see Tobias flying towards the woods. None of us tried to stop him, because we didn't blame him.

"Is he all right?" Eva asked, Marco turned to his mother and said something in a really soft tone. She froze, tears started to run down her face. They were on Marco's face, they were on mine. And if hawks could cry, they would definitely be on Tobias's. The three of us silently walked into camp, gathered everyone up, and told them what happened. Everyone cried that night, harder than any of us ever have.

**A/N: Sorry it's so short!**


	4. Marco: I've Got To Get Out Of Here

Emotions, too many emotions. I had to get out of this overbearing pit of emotions, so I did. I got up and walked toward the forest, slowly at first, as soon as I was sure the camp couldn't see me, I ran. I ran for who knows how long, running through the forest just to get away. I stopped dead, in front of me was a girl, she was on her knees holding a very messed up bird. The thing was probably dead, there was blood all over it, it's feathers were everywhere, it didn't look like it was breathing. She didn't notice me, she was examining the bird.

"Um. Hi." I said. Her head shot up and turned to look at me, she adopted a worried and surprised expression on her face. She stood up, cradling the bird in her arms like a baby, turned around and ran with alien speed. I stood there for a minute, thinking about what just happened, then I started back to the valley. It took longer, considering I walked, but I needed the time alone. The only thing that I could think about was that girl, she was pretty, I knew that for a fact. Other than that she was completely alien to me, speaking of alien, a blue, part-human-part-scorpion-part-deer-with-no-mouth-and-stalk-eyes came into view.

(Marco, you're mother sent me to find you) Ax said.

"Ok, I was on my way back anyway." I said, and for a few minutes we walked in silence. "Ax, you know a lot about these woods right?"

(Yes)

"Have you ever seen a girl out here? One that isn't from the valley?" I asked.

(No, I don't believe any humans live in this forest)

"Ok, just wondering." When we got to the camp, everyone was in one spot. "Ax, what's going on?" I asked.

(I do not know. Everyone was in their cabins when I left to find you.) We walked toward the group, eventually I found my parents.

"What's going on?" I asked, my mom just grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the center of the group. Standing in the middle, was a huge group of Andilites, and a blonde girl.

"Rachel!" I exclaimed.


	5. Cassie: She's Back

"Rachel!" Marco gave her a hug, Rachel hugged him back. It took them a few minutes to realize they were hugging each other.

"OOO!" Marco and Rachel both jumped back from each other, making everyone laugh.

"So...um...how did you survive?" Marco asked.

"The Andilites transported her off the ship and healed her up." Jake interrupted.

"Oh...that explains the battalion of Andilites and the really cool looking space craft." Marco said.

"It also explains how the boys got off the ship." I said.

"Where's Ax?" Rachel asked.  
"With the Andilites." Jake said.

"Oh, I guess I'll say hi to him later. But in the meantime, where's Tobias?" Rachel asked, Marco, Jake, and I exchanged glances.

"Where is he?" She said firmly.

"See the problem is...we don't know." Marco said.

"He ran off right after we got ported down." Jake said.

"He WHAT?" She screamed, no one really paid attention.

"He probably went into the woods for a little solitude, I'm sure he's all right." I said, and put my hand on her shoulder.

"What if he doesn't come back?" She looked worried, all of us did.

"What makes you think he won't?" I asked.  
"I have a pretty good clue." Jake said, Rachel turned to him.

"And what is that?" She asked sharply.

"On the ship, a few minutes before you got...you know...Tobias kind of...told us." Marco said.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know what you're talking about?" I asked, Rachel came up to me and wispered something.  
"Look what he gave me." She held up a gold ring on her left hand.

"Whoah, is that a...?" I asked.

"Yes, it is."

"Oh, well. Congratulations." I hugged her.

"Thanks."

(Hello Rachel. It is nice to see you alive)

"Nice to see you too Ax."

(They claim they lost someone here.)

"They lost an experiment." Rachel said, we all turned toward her. "They told me about it. They were trying to enhance humans. The test subject is stronger and faster then normal, has better senses, and has morphing powers to boot." She finished.

"Woah." Jake said.

"How do they know it worked?" I asked.

"It escaped." Rachel added.  
"Rachel, be nice, don't say 'it'. Say 'he'." I said.

"Don't." We all looked at Marco. "This test subect is a girl."

(Marco may be right, he said something about seeing a girl in the forest.)

"Good, now we can acomplish two things at once." Rachel said. "The girl is in the forest, Tobias is in the forest. We need to find both."

"She's right." Jake said.

"Can we at least wait until tomorrow?" Marco asked.

"Just for that we're waking up at five am to start searching." Jake said with a smirk.

"Great, no wild parties tonight." Marco said sarcastically.  
"You're right Marco, no wild parties until we find Tobias." I added.

"It settled then, no wild parties, Marco wakes up at five am and searches ahead of us, while we enjoy some sleep and a nice warm breakfast." Rachel said.

"Just dandy."

"Marco..." I said inbetween laughing.  
"I though you weren't funny at first but that..." Rachel said, then broke off laughing.  
"What they mean is, you seriously need some new lines." Jake said.


	6. Tobias: Who Are You?

**Sorry it's been so dang long! It's a conbination of having a pool to enjoy in the hundred degree heat, working on a new fic, and being just plain lazy. I was going to write another chapter to treat you, but I don't have time. I'll try to write it when I get back home!**

Pain. The last thing I remember. And what I woke up to. I would have rubbed my head but I has feathers not fingers. I opened my eyes, instead of seeing the forest I saw a cabin. It looked a lot like one of the cabins in the valley, but just a little different. I hopped to my feet and surveyed the room. I was lying on a bunch of vines tied together, well, I was standing now. The vines were hanging from the ceiling in a corner. On my left there was what was probably the door, there was another set of vines hanging from the roof in the corner on my right. It was bigger, but other than that the same. There was one window on each wall except the wall with the door. There was nothing else in the room, if you could call it a room. It was more like the shack that we kept Jake in when he was a controller. I was going to fly out the window accross from me, but stopped when pain shot through my left wing. It was splinted with a stick and some black cloth. I was going to have to morph to get out of here. I hopped off the vines and onto the floor, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my human self. In a few minutes I was fully human, I didn't open my eyes for a few minutes. Rachel was gone. It all came back to me right then.

"Whoah." I turned, there was a red headed girl around my age standing in the doorway. She was wearing a loose black t-shirt and loose black bike shorts.

"Estrid?" I said in disbelief.

"How do you know her?" The girl asked.

"I met her when she came to Earth." I said. "How do you know her?"

"She's one of the scientists working on me. You're one of those people Elfangor's little brother gave the morphing power to!"

"How do you know that? Wait...working on _you_?" It was amazing how we could keep up both conversations at once.

"I'm an experiment. And I know because I've been with Andilites for who knows how long. Andilites keep track of time in different ways than we humans do."

"Andilites are experimenting on humans?" I asked, dumbstruck.

"Yeah. There's only five others and-Wait, you met Estrid?" She said, recognition in her eyes.

"We already cleared that-" I started.

"I know! There were only five more human experiments, and they were the ones with the morphing power."

"I'm not an experiment. I would know."

"Actually, you wouldn't. You were diagnosed with it behind your back, at least, that's what Estrid told me. She was assigned to me because she didn't like it when you were slipped the contagion. She didn't want to work with someone who didn't want to do it in the first place. Me, being some messed up kid from a really screwed foster family, didn't have any objections. It's not la vida loca, but Estrid is nice, and she tries to make it painless." She explained.

"Oh shoot, I've got to morph. I don't know how much time it's been."

"15.4 minutes." The girl answered. "I've got an Andilite's internal clock."

"Does that mean...?" I asked.

"You've got it too? Only if it's activated." She finished my question and answered it.

"By the way, this isn't my normal form. I was born human though. I'm a nothlit. Red-tailed hawk."

"I like those, I've always been big on birds. I have a similar confession, this isn't my normal form either. It's just a morph, I find this form conceals me better than my real features."

"That's why I mistook you for Estrid. By the way, thanks for splinting the wing." I said.

"Your welcome. What happened, by the way?"

"I was...umm...Her name was Rachel."

"What? Bad break up? It can't be worth killing yourself over."

"She died." I said. "The day after..."

"Oh." She seemed a bit embarrassed.

"The day after I asked her to marry me." I said, she seemed sympathetic now.

"Wow. That's tough."

"Yeah." We stood in silence for a few seconds, then her eyes lit up.

"Did she die on the blade ship?" She asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"Blonde? Kind of on the tall side? Bright blue eyes?" I looked up.

"Yes!"

"Rachel's not dead." She smiled.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"I saw her! She helped Estrid get me off that ship! They were going to diagnose me with some deadly virus to see if I was as invaunerable as I was supposed to be." She said rapidly.

"Wow you can talk fast. How?!" I asked exitedly.

"We transported her up to our ship. She was kind of bruised up from that controller, but other than that just fine!"

"We've got to get back to camp. You can come with me! It's much better than out here." I said, she looked nervous. "We live with the free Hork-Bajir, you'll love it! They're really sweet."

"Okay." She said.

"By the way." I said, morphing. (I'm Tobias.)

"I like your name." She smiled.

(Thanks.) I said, flapping up to the windowsill behind her. I turned my head, and she was a totally different person. Pale skin, green eyes you couldn't miss, and curly jet black hair that bounced when she moved the slightest bit. The black outfit was skintight now, she filled it out. She smiled nervously.

"I'm Carman."


	7. Rachel: The Bird Has Arrived

My name is Rachel. I was worried out of heck. And this time, I wasn't afraid to let it show. I had gone out in the forest with the other Animorphs with my game face on, but everyone was worried too. Even Marco, though he still made a few jokes, it was usually about how long we'd been walking or something. And he'd been going on for an hour - at least, Ax told us it had been an hour - about a stupid squirrel who had landed on his head and started pulling at his hair. It incident was funny, really, but I wasn't exactly paying attention to many things. Add to that being tired an thirsty, and you've got one unhappy warrior princess.

"MARCO!" I exclaimed, whirling around. "Shut up before I morph grizzly upside your butt!"

"Rach, you already have." Cassie said, putting her hand on my shoulder. I looked down, my hands were already bear claws, and I was gaining brown fur everywhere. I quickly reversed the morph.

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood." Marco said., he sounded pretty sincere about it.

"He's right, Rachel." Jake said. "We all miss him too, but there's no use in moping around like he's dead." Marco stopped walking, we all turned to face him.

"I just remembered something." He said. "And it doesn't look good."

"What?" I asked, frantic.

"I remember, when I saw that girl yesterday, she was holding a bird. It was hurt pretty bad, but I couldn't tell if it was Tobias because of all the blood and feathers going everywhere." Marco said, I plopped down on the grass.

"We'll find him somewhere." Cassie said, placing her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I heard laughing, I stood up. No wait, not laughing...giggling.

"Acting like that isn't going to help, bird-boy." A girl's voice said.

(Well you can't blame me for worrying about them)

"TOBIAS!" We all screamed, I stood up. We waved our arms frantically, screaming his name.

(Guys? There's a clearing up ahead, hyper girl)

"I'm laughing on the inside." The same girl's voice, she laughed.

(You call me bird-boy) I looked up, overjoyed to see a red-tailed hawk circling above. He landed on a low branch. (Rachel!)

"Tobias!" I said, smiling brightly. He jumped off the branch, landing on the ground. He immediately began morphing human, and fast. He was done in minutes. He grabbed my shoulders, pulling me roughly into a kiss.

"Well fine, we're just standing here watching." I knew that was Marco. Tobias pulled back, and just looked at me a minute. I never thought I would look into those dreamlike gray eyes again. He turned around, smirking.

"Glad to know you're there." Tobias shot back, he looked around.

"Looking for that girl?" Cassie asked. "Who is she, anyway?" 

"She's an Andilite experiment." Tobias said.

"Funny. The Andilites asked us to find her." Marco said.

"No! I'm not going back!" We turned to the source of the voice. There she was, waist length, jet black, curly hair, bright green eyes you couldn't miss from a mile away, she looked about our age, but smaller, more petite.

"Carman!" I exclaimed, she saw me, and smiled brightly.

"Rachel." She said, she smiled. Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Ax seemed confused, but Tobias wasn't.

"She told me you and Estrid helped her escape." Tobias said.

(Estrid?) Ax asked, Carman tilted her head at him, and laughed.

"Aximilli, Estrid speaks of you highly." She said, Ax didn't know how to reply to that. "Wait...if the Andilites are here, where is Estrid? She was on the ship." Everyone turned to look at me, I sighed.

"I don't know, the last I saw of her they told her to report to her quarters, and that they would deal with her later." I said. "She might still be in the ship, but I don't know what they've done to her. She could be on one of the other ship.s"

"There's only one Andilite ship down here." Jake said. "They said their other ships were in orbit around the planet, so she might be there."

"We can't go back to the valley and look." Tobias said. "Estrid and Rachel just got Carman out, we can't bring her back to them."

"What were they going to do to you?" Cassie asked, Carman sighed, she looked nervous.

"They were going to diagnose her with a deadly virus, to see if she was invunerable like she should be." I explained, Cassie laid a hand on Carman's shoulder. Carman put her hand on top of Cassie's.

"If I had known they would do this kind of thing, I wouldn't have agreed to be an experiment." Carman said.

"You _agreed_ to this?!" Marco exclaimed.

"I've known about the Yeerks, since I was ten. Since before they came here." Carman said. "I knew the Andilites were the good guys, and my life was horrible. My parents died when I was seven, and I had no siblings. I was always given to the weird families, and passed along between them. Life up there was better than my life down here, I must admit."

(How did you know about the Yeerks?) Ax asked.

TSSSSSEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW

"It's coming from the valley!" Cassie exclaimed, we ran as fast as we could. Tobias was morphing as we ran, after a while he began flying. Hork-Bajir were slashing at each other like mad. Some Hork-Bajir had dracon beams, Andilites, humans with dracon beams, and Taxxons were in the fray as well.

"Renegade Yeerks!" Jake said angrily, he was already morphing tiger. The rest of us were already working on our battle morphs, Ax just ran in the battle. Me to grizzly, Tobias to Hork-Bajir, Marco to gorilla, Cassie to wolf, and Carman to...well, I couldn't tell what she was morphing, she was obscured by Marco. I finished morphing, I charged. I wasn't sure which Hork-Bajir were ours, so I charged for the ones with dracon beams. I snuck up behind him, slashing through his midsection, he fell. I slashed at another angrily, after all, it was because of them I almost lost my life. And I wasn't going to show mercy.

(Rach, hold back a bit) Tobias said, a Hork-Bajir looked directly at me. He slashed the one I was about to kill, and in one swift motion the Hork-Bajir fell. (Just...not as messy)

(I'm sorry) I said. (They almost killed me, and almost took me away from you. I'm mad at them)

(If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have met. So at least give them a less gory death) He said, his Hork-Bajir morph smiled almost scarily. Something scratched at me, I retaliated, cutting him to pieces.

(Oopps...sorry...) I said, he laughed.

(GET OUT OF THE WAY! NOW!) Ax ran by us, we ran with him. We stopped a few yards into the forest, a messed up tiger was laying on the ground, panting. Cassie was already demorphing, she looked like a wolf standing on it's hind legs.

(Where's Marco and Carman?) Jake asked wearily, Cassie finished demorphing and sat on her knees next to him.

"Just demorph, Jake, Ax's going to get them." She said soothingly, he began to slowly demorph. I looked around, Ax was gone, I didn't notice him leave.

(What's going on?) Tobias asked, he was now in hawk form. He flapped up, landing on my shoulder. (Ax asked us to get out of the way)

"The Andilites are going to emit a burst that will get everything in the area." Jake said breathlessly, sitting up, Cassie was helping him. Her face turned chalk white.

"What about the free Hork-Bajir?" She asked fearfully.

"Toby's got them in a safe place." Jake said, catching his breath. "The Andilites won't fire until Ax gives the word, so Marco and Carman will be all right." Cassie nodded.

"Just rest, Jake, just rest." She said, laying him down on the grass. He was breathing heavily, I demorphed.

(Cassie, I need your help. More specifically, Carman needs your help) Ax said, he came into the forest. Behind him was a seriously hurt Marco, barely walking. In his arms he held a crumpled Andilite female, he sat her on the ground in front of Cassie. Then he collapsed on the ground.

"Marco! Marco you've got to demorph!" Jake said, crawling over to his best friend's body. "Demorph, please, demorph!"

(Everyone is safe, fire) Ax said. (It will be a while before we can enter the valley again.)

(Can't demorph...not enough...energy...) Marco said.

"Come on, Marco...come on!" Jake exclaimed. "For your mom, Marco..for your dad..." Marco began to demorph slowly.

"Marco's the least of our worries..Jake..her breathing is slowing." Cassie said, Jake whirled around, looking at the cheetah's crumpled body.

"Carman." I said, kneeling next to her, Tobias did too. "Carman...please...demorph..."

"Demorph, please, demorph." Tobias said, Marco crawled his way over to her, sitting next to Tobias. He looked worried.

"It's my fault." Marco said. "I'm sorry...I...I..."

"Marco, it's not your fault." Cassie said. "Carman...demorph...you've got to..."

(Carman, please demorph, now) Ax said.

"Carman..." I said, I looked at Marco, he looked so worried. "Marco...why don't you try? Come on, we need all the help we can get." He nodded.

"Demorph, Carman, you'll die if you don't. Demorph." Marco said. "Come on, Carman, please..."

"All at once." Cassie said. "Three...two...one..."

"Demorph!"

(Demorph!) We all yelled, the cheetah jumped to it's feet, we had to back away. She collapsed.

(I'm working on it...using all my energy...I'm losing it, I swear I'm not going to be awake when I'm done with this...) She said, she was slowly demorphing. We all sighed in relief once she was done, she smiled half-heartedly at us, then fell unconcious.


	8. Jake: Safety

My name is Jake. And I was about to pass out. But I couldn't, I had to make sure everything went as planned.

"Jake...you need to-" Cassie started, but I held up a hand as I stood up.

"No, I can do it." I said.

"I mean it." She stood up. "You need rest."

"Not until I know everyone's safe." I said firmly, she looked at me, cocern etched on her face. She nodded reluctantly, I kissed her on the cheek. She looked up at me, surprised. I smiled and we walked to the edge of the forest.

"Oh my word." Cassie said, I squeezed her hand. The valley was completely insenerated, barren and black. Cassie put her hand over her mouth in shock, Rachel's head was laying on Tobias's shoulder, he had his arm around her, Ax's tail was lowered in respect, Marco looked like he was trying to hold back his emotions, and Carman was still unconcious.

(I didn't know it would do this) Ax said quietly. (If I had-)

"It's not your fault, Ax." Rachel said, raising her head. "Don't blame yourself."

"Is it safe to go out there?" I asked.

(Yes, by now it should be)

"Come on, let's go check on the Hork-Bajir." I said.

"What about Carman?" Marco asked. "We can't just leave her there."

"Someone's got to carry her." Tobias agreed, Marco began to morph gorilla. We all just watched him. When he was done, he went over to Carman and picked her up gently. We walked out of the forest, the only noises I heard were our footsteps and Cassie's breathing. I held her hand, and she was walked very close to me. We approached the cabins, they were mostly intact. A few were burned a bit, which caused parts of them to collapse.

(Toby got everyone else to safety.) Ax assured us, Rachel nodded dully. We walked up the hill toward the caves, they came into view. A few Hork-Bajir and humans were standing in front of them, looking around.

"Rachel!" My aunt ran down the hill, Rachel stepped forward, hugging her mother. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, mom, I'm all right." She said, her mother pulled back, then looked at me. She'd been acting like my mother while we lived at the camp, I was grateful for it, but right now, I just wanted to lie down.

"The rest of you?" She asked.

(If we tell her about Carman-) Ax started.

(No, Ax.) Marco said. (We should tell her, if the Andilites want to diagnose her with that virus or whatever it is, we'll need all the resistance we can get)

"I agree with Marco." Cassie said, looking up at me.

"We're fine." Rachel sighed. "But Carman is still unconcious." Naomi looked a little confused, but Marco held Carman out a bit, then pulled her back up against himself.

"That experiment the Andilites are looking for? That's her." Cassie said.

"But we're not letting her go back." Tobias said firmly. "She told us what they were going to do to her. She said it was normally fine with her, but this time is different."

"They want to give her a virus to see if she's indestructible, like she should be. A deadly virus at that." Rachel said, you could tell she was angry. "I helped her escape, there is no way I'm letting her go back."

"The Andilites said you had agressive tendencies." Naomi said softly. "I wondered what you had done."

"Well that's what I did." Rachel said. "Estrid and I saved Carman, and they locked her up for it. They would have done the same to me, but I'm not in their government, so they can't do a thing to me."

"Marco, could you carry her up to the caves? I have a spot where the Andilites won't find her." Naomi said, Rachel grinned.

(I can do it, but I'm going to pass out when I'm done demorphing) He said. (Too much strain..)

"Let's go then." I said. We walked up the hill, Naomi led us to the mouth of a cave. "Marco, you'll have to demorph." I said. "Tobias, help me take her from Marco."

"Okay." Tobias said. We went over to Marco, Tobias locked his arms through hers, I grabbed her feet, we lifted. Marco demorphed while Naomi led Tobias and I into the cave. She pointed to a blanket on the ground, we sat her gently on the blanket. Tobias and I walked back out, Toby was standing with the others.

"I agree, we should not let them take her if they are going to harm her." Toby said.

"I'm guessing you guys told her about Carman." I said, Toby nodded. "Ax, where are the Andilites?"

(I don't know) Ax said. (But they are probably in their ship)

"It's late, I'm thinking they'll come back tomorrow." Cassie said.

"Good. In the meantime, we need rest." I said, then laughed. "That's an order."

"Yes sir." Marco said fakely. We walked up the hill. I stopped, taking Cassie's arm. She stopped too, the rest went on.

"What is it?" She asked, looking up at me. I kissed her gently.

"Unless you have anything to add, that's it." I smiled, she laughed and kissed me, then she walked off. "Well fine." I teased, she looked back at me with a smile.

"I can be that way if I want." She said.

"Okay, but it's my turn next time." I grinned.

"Well fine."


	9. Marco: Questions and Answers

My name is Marco. And I'm bored. I sighed. I was sitting against the cave wall with my legs stretched out, the others had gone outside and sat by the fire, I was too lazy to get up right now, so I stayed in the cave. I looked down to my right, Carman hadn't woken up yet. She opened her eyes, unsteadily sitting up.

"Good morning, angel." I said. "It's already dark." She looked outside, the firelight lit the cave dimly.

"Is everyone okay?" Carman asked wearily.

"Yeah, we took role call, everyone's accounted for. Human and Hork-Bajir alike." I said.

"And the Andilites?" She asked.

"Ax thinks they're in orbit, and Cassie thinks they'll be back tomorrow." I explained, she nodded. "Don't worry, angel, everyone in this valley is willing to protect you if necessary."

"What.." She exclaimed, though not brashly, she positioned herself to face me. "Did you call me?"

"Oh...sorry."

"No seriously, what?"

"Angel."

"Funny, most of the Andilites seem to think the opposite of me. 'The little demon' is used the most to describe me." She said, laughing.

"Well, I certainly don't think that of you." I said, she smiled.

"Besides Estrid and Jordall, no one else has ever said something nice to me." She smiled. "I didn't get to know Rachel much, she was fighting the whole time." She laughed.

"That's Rachel. Xena Warrior Princess." I said. "You do know who that is, right?"

"Of course, I didn't leave the planet until I was ten." She said.

"Only ten?"

"I wasn't scared or any emotion of that sort, I was grateful." She said. "Nothing they've done has hurt me."

"Until now, it's going to change." I said.

"Completely, the food wasn't that great, but I was treated okay." She said. "Some of the Andilites weren't comfortable with it, mostly the males."

"I thought there weren't any women on Andilite vessels?" I asked.

"They're limited to the sciences, though not usually engineering and that area." She said. "It's a science vessel, there's an equal amouth of both."

"Makes sense." I said. "But you always mention Estrid, was she the only one who was nice to you?"

"Yeah, she's great." Carman said, smiling. "Most of the women were nice to me at first, they felt sorry for me, because I had no family, everyone had always been mean to me."

"How long had you been living like that?" I asked.

"Since I was three." She said. "I'd been passed from family to family, and not good ones at that. The day I turned nine, I gave myself the best birthday gift I ever had. I ran away."

"I would have too."

"I lived off the streets for a year, then the Andilites found me." She said. "They took a certain...interest, in me. Only after I told them what I was, of course."

"You're doing that on purpose, keep going." I said, she smiled.

"When I was eight, I found something my parents left for me. A thick book, and a blue box." She said.

"Morphing cube." I said, she nodded.

"The first part of the book, explained who my parents were. Andilites morphed human for a short period of time, and they decided to stay here after I was born. No one on the homeworld approved, so the Andilite government kept it a secret, and said that they just dissappeared. I had a sibling, an older Andiite brother. He was an aristh when I was born, so he never met me. I'm not sure if he knew about me, or if he's still alive. Well, anyway, my parents went on a dangerous mission, and never came back. The rest of the book was all about Andilites, the Yeerks, and all kinds of other things. I finished it two years ago, and I've been morphing since ten. That's how they found me, they saw me morph..and well, they wanted to know how I got the power. So I told them."

"And you trusted them because they were Andilites?"

"Yeah, I figured if my parents were so great - they wrote that whole book themselves, humorous footnotes and all." She said. "After meeting these Andilites, I knew my parents were a rare breed. Estrid being one of them. What about the Andilite in your group? Aximilli?"

"He's gotten more human over the last three years, but he's still got a little bit of arrogance in him." I said. "Plus he can be ruthless, but he's cool. And he _really_ likes Estrid." She laughed.

"Like I said earlier, Estrid talks about him a lot." She said. "But Estrid wasn't assigned to my project until after she met you."

"Guess most Andilites just think of you as a project, not a sentient being." I said quietly.

"Unfortunately, that's the way it is." She said softly, I nodded. "Don't feel sorry for me, you've been through a lot yourself."

"So we're even?" I asked.

She smiled and said: "Yeah, I guess we are."


	10. Cassie: Some Sort of Plan

"So...what exactly _can_ you do?" Jake asked, looking at Carman. It was the next morning, we were sitting around what used to be the campfire. I was sitting on the ground, Rachel was next to me, Tobias was in hawk form standing on the ground next to her, Carman was on the other side of me, Marco was sitting diagnally next to her, Jake was pacing, Ax was standing across from us, and Toby was standing a few feet away from him.

"A lot more than what they told you, probably." Carman said, Jake stopped pacing and crossed his arms, watching Carman.

"They said you can morph, were faster, and stronger than us." Rachel said. "But there's more, isn't there?"

"I'm supposed to be immune to almost everything, and I'm pretty indestructible. But those, the speed, and the strength are only in my natural human form. Otherwise, I've only got whatever my morph has." Carman explained. "The virus was to see if I was completely indestructible, like I should be. But there's no telling unless I get seriously injured, but not in morph."

"And they're willing to make it happen." Jake said, nodding.

"But that's horrible." I said. "We can't just let them do this. It's wrong."

"It is." Jake agreed. "So we're going to hide you. Ax, any suggestions?"

(If she is far enough in one of the caves, their sensors might not be able to penetrate it.) Ax said, Jake nodded.

(But what if they _do_ sense her?) Tobias asked. (They'll know we were trying to hide her)

(Or they might think she was hiding right under our noses) Ax said.

"Either way, we'll have to defend her." Marco said.

"My people are more than happy to help." Toby said.

"Thank you Toby." Carman said, smiling. "I haven't known any of you for more than a day, and you're already defending me."

"You deserve it." I said, she smiled.

"If the Andilites do attack because of this, what are we going to do?" Marco asked.

"Try to resolve it peacefully." Jake said. "But if they refuse...Ax I don't want to pit you against your own people."

(I will do what I must) Ax said quietly.

"It'll be fairly easy, it's a science vessel, not very many weapons. And less males, females aren't as capable in battle." Rachel said.

(Except Estrid, she could fight) Tobias said.

"Estrid." Carman said, flashing a glance at Tobias. "Will be on our side, if she's even on the ship."

"Ax, will they be scanning the Hork-Bajir?" Marco asked.

(I don't think they would.) Ax answered. (Why?)

(I see where you're going, if they don't scan them, then they won't notice two of the same Hork-Bajir. One is the real one, the other is Carman.) Tobias said.

"There are many Hork-Bajir who would be willing to let you aquire them." Toby said, Carman nodded.

"We don't have time for that." Rachel said, pointing to the sky. There was a silver dot, and it was getting bigger. Carman stood up, standing in front of Toby.

"May I?" Carman asked, Toby nodded, Carman touched Toby's arm. Toby went into a dazed state, Carman moved her hand and began to morph.

"Get out of sight, two seers in one place is unusual." Jake said, Carman finished morphing quickly and ran off. Marco got a manaical grin on his face.

"Houston, we have visitors."


	11. Carman: Hiding

My name is Carman. And I was scared for my life.

"Look." Jake said, stepping up. "We _really_ don't know where she is." I was hidden safely in the crowd of Hork-Bajir that had stood to watch. Toby told me the meeting between the Andalites and the Animorphs hadn't even begun, the Andalites had charged in and accused them of knowing where I was. Of course they didn't know _exactly_ where I was, so Jake wasn't entirely lying, but still. Toby had gone up to stand with the Animorphs, and I was just watching with the Hork-Bajir.

(Scan for two of the same DNA pattern) Captain Deranam said, one of the _arisths_, Conas, scanned the area with a device.

(Sir, there isn't two of the same DNA pattern) Conas said, Deranam turned, Conas handed him the scanner. While the captain was looking at the scanner, the Animorphs looked confused. I couldn't help but smile, I had outsmarted them.

(I know where you are, Carman) Ax said. (And I think that was very impressive, stay as close as you can. If you have to move farther away, try to stay in thought-speak range)

(Okay, I will) I said, and waited a minute before adding, (Thank you)

(Do not come in contact with any of the other Animorphs, it will be harder for them to keep their cover) Ax said.

(I understand, it's harder to say they don't know where I am if I tell them where I am) I said.

"I told you she wasn't here." Jake said. "We searched the forest yesterday, and all we found was what we were looking for, Tobias."

"We were in that forest all day," Cassie said. "If she was there, we would know. The Hork-Bajir would have found her if we didn't, and they haven't seen anything unusual." Deranam looked at Toby, who stood straight and tall.

"She's right, nothing out of the ordinary, you obviously need to be looking somewhere else." Toby said, I could tell lying had troubled her.

(I'm sorry you had to do that for me, Toby) I said, Toby just stood straighter, the Andalites didn't notice. I knew that meant she was glad to protect me.

(Thank you for your..cooperation.) Captain Deranam said, he, the warrior, and the two _arisths_, went back into the ship. It lifted off a minute later, going back into the sky. The Hork-Bajir began to disperse.

"Carman? Where are you?" Cassie asked.

"Right here." I said, the last of the Hork-Bajir left, leaving me standing with the Animorphs.

"What did you do?" Rachel asked.

(She's not Toby anymore, she must be someone else) Tobias said. (Yeerk Hork-Bajir?)

"No, mix of a few willing Hork-Bajir." I said.

"I never would have thought of that." Marco said, I smiled. "And now you're scaring me."

"Sorry." I said, slowly demorphing. "I've gotten fairly used to Hork-Bajir, so it doesn't freak me out. I would think you would have gotten used to it." 

"You would think." Rachel said, looking at Marco.

(Carman! Run!) Ax exclaimed, I looked around, wondering what was going on. (Now!) He exclaimed, pushing me into the cave. I did as he said and ran as fast as I could, as soon as I was around the corner, I stopped. They would think I had ran on, because I kept stomping my feet. I started lessing the force of my steps, as if they were fading away. Eventually, I stopped. I plastered myself against the cave wall, barely peeking out the side, the Andalites had landed. There were more Andalites this time, and they had shredders. I could hear them from here.

"No." Jake said firmly. "She stays."

(That is not an option) Captain Deranam said, I was slowly creeping up, trying to see more of the scene. But something didn't agree with me...


	12. Tobias: Gone

My name is Tobias.

SCREAM I looked toward the cave. Marco turned around, about to go in the cave. Ax's tail blade stopped him, Marco looked at him, glaring daggers.

(She can take care of herself) Ax said privately to the Animorphs. Marco struggled, Ax's tail coiled around him. (No. We need you here)

(She could be dying for all we know) I said.

(Toby, please try to find Carman) Ax said, Toby slowly backed up while the Andalite's attention was on us. She dissappeared into the midst of the other Hork-Bajir.

(Marco, Toby knows this valley better than any of us. If anyone can find Carman, she can) I said, relieved that Toby was looking for Carman. Marco turned around, an angry expression on his face.

"That was her." Jake said. "Looks like neither of us can have her now."

(She is formidible, she will survive) Deranam said.

"What makes you so sure?" Rachel said, catching on to Jake's game. "You don't know what attacked her."

(But you do) One of the _arisths_ said.

"What makes you think that?" Cassie asked. "We don't know what happened to her either."

(We can assume, then, that she did not survive) Deranam said, Cassie was not lying, therefore the Andalites believed her.

"I guess we can." Rachel said, trying to keep a straight face. She stood straighter, and boldly, with a defiant stare on her face. Deranam turned, heading back into the ship, the others followed. The ship lifted off, and dissappeared.

(They won't be coming back, she was their only reason for staying) Ax said.

"Was?" Cassie asked, a cold sorrow in her eyes. "We may not know what happened to her, but we are _not_ giving up on her just yet."

(There's Toby) I said, she came up to us.

"I cannot find her." She studdered nervously, and shakily.

"Toby." Cassie said, stepping forward and placing her hand on her shoulder, careful to aviod her blades. "Please, just tell us if she's all right."

"She is fine." Toby said, she seemed to have let out a breath she had been holding in. "Unconcious, but fine."

"What happened to her?" Marco asked.

"I do not know exactly." Toby said. "I can take you to her, but it will take longer."

"We can morph Hork-Bajir." Rachel said. "It won't take long."

"I don't know how long it will take, I was transported there." Toby said. "But I saw a lot of the surrounding area, and I will be able find it."

"So we're looking at a pretty long journey here." Jake said.

"Probably, yes."

"Let's go." Marco said firmly.

"I'm with him, we grab some supplies and go." Rachel said.

"They're right, we've got nothing better to do." Cassie said, looking at Jake. He nodded.

"All right, pack some supplies, and we can go."

-::-

CHHHHHHHSSSHHHH I turned around, Captain Deranam came through the doors, they shut behind him.

(Estrid) He said.

(What do you want, Deranam? I have nothing left to give you) I said sharply.

(I thought you would like to know the experiment is dead) He said, I could feel my hearts stop.

(NO! You killed her! You monstrosity! You killed her!) I exclaimed, going into hysterics.

(I did not kill her) He said. (No one knows, but that doesn't change the fact she is dead)

(Go.) I said. (Just leave me alone)

(As you wish) He said codly, he turned sharply, the doors opened with a swish, he vanished, the doors shut.

(Carman...) I said. (Aximilli, please find her)


	13. Carman: Family

I screamed. Someone had came up behind me and locked my hands together, the other hand rested on my mouth, so I couldn't scream anymore. Well...my scream was still getting through.

"No...shhh. I'm here to help you, I promise." A man said, I struggled. "Carman, just calm down..." I stopped struggling. "Okay, I'm gonna have to knock you unconcious, it won't hurt though, please, I'm going to help you, just trust me." I kept struggling. "Carman, please." He said, the hand that was over my mouth moved, it returned with a piece of Andalite technology that I knew all too well. "You know what this does, right?"

"Obviously." I said bluntly.

"Then you know it won't hurt." He said, I kept struggling. "I promise I won't take you back to the ship, that's the last place either of us wants to go right now."

"Fine. But you better wake me up within two hours." I said.

"It shouldn't take that long." He said, and everything went black.

-::-

I opened my eyes, sitting up uncertainly. I looked around, I was in the forest, where I didn't know, but it must be pretty deep.

"Wondering when it would kick in." I looked up, a boy about seven years older than me - which makes him twenty-three - sat down beside me. He had curly, jet black hair, light green eyes, and was actually kind of muscular. "Still feeling groggy?"

"No." I said. "Where the crap are we?"

"You sure sound like dad..." He said. "We're deep in the forest, the other Andalites won't bother looking this far, but the Animorphs will."

"Dad?" I asked. "And other Andalites? You're an Andalite?" 

"So are you." He said.

"No one knows that, not even the scientists working on my project. Just Captain Deranam, Marco, and Estrid."

"So you haven't even told the other Animorphs yet?"

"I haven't had time, I only told Marco last night. Everyone else was outside, and he asked questions, so I answered them."

"As I've seen so far, he kind of likes you."

"Okay, who the crap are you?"

"Like I said earlier, _so_ much like dad." He said. "Jordall-Samil-Touran."

"Carman-Arinous-Mollyara."

"But I knew that, so..." Jordall shrugged.

"You're awfully human to be an Andalite." I said. "Even more human than Aximilli, who spent three years here."

"That's because I've spent your whole life reasearching Earth, and going back and forth between here and the Andalite homeworld."

"_My_ whole life?"

"Well...almost your whole life." Jordall said. "When I learned you were born human, I decided to research them, and look for you, of course."

"You must have a reason for doing that." I said.

"I do." He said, he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a silver disk, he handed it to me. "I brought this for you, I thought you'd want it." It was a projection, I activated it. Two seperate projections came up, one with three Andalites, the other with three humans. There was one female Andalite, and two males, one was younger, an _aristh_, the other was older, a war-prince. There was a human couple, the woman held a little girl of about two years old in her arms.

"You...I always thought I wasn't alone, but I never really..." I said, trailing off. I looked up at him, he was smiling. "Tell me about them."

"I was wondering when you'd ask."

-::-

"I'm hungry." I said, Jordall smiled.

"I knew you'd be sooner or later." He started digging through a backpack, every now and then switching his gaze to the sky and back. "It's getting dark. If they were coming, they'd be here already."

"It's all right, they don't know where they're going."

"But Toby does." He said, sitting down next to me again. He handed me a ziploc bag with a sandwich in it.

"Toby?" I asked.

"While you were still unconcious, I used the last of the power I had to transport her over here and back. So they'd know you were all right, and come looking. Toby knows the surroundings, she can get them here."

"They're human, they tire easily." I said, taking a bit. Mmm...peanut butter and blackberry jelly. "You knew this was my favorite."

"Is it? I just brought it because it was mine." He said, taking a bite of his sandwich, I laughed. "Hey...you're human."

"I'm not normal." I said, Jordall looked up. "What?"

"Smoke." He said, pointing. There was a small sliver of smoke coming up from the ground not to far away. We had a small Andalite light - hehe...that's funny - so we didn't have smoke. He stood up, slinging the backpack on his shoulder. I grabbed the lantern and followed him, taking a bite of my sandwich at the same time as he did. I laughed.

"That's not right," I said. "We're too much alike."

"I guess we'll have to learn to get used to it, won't we little sister?" He asked, I smiled.

"I don't need to."


	14. Cassie: The Plan

It was almost sunset, we were sitting around a campfire. We being me, Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco, Ax in Andalite form, and Toby.

"Guys!" We turned to look. Carman was behind us, along with a man of about twenty-three, with jet black, curly hair, light green eyes, and kind of muscular.

"Carman!" I exclaimed.

"Yup." She said, smiling. "Looks like you guys need this." She sat a lantern down next to the fire, she flipped a switch on the side, it was brighter after that.

"Dang." Marco said, shielding his eyes with his hand. "That's bright."

"You think if we turn it off Carman's eyes will glow?" Tobias teased, we laughed.

"Bird-boy." Carman said under her breath.

"HEY!" Tobias said. "I-"

"Okay, let's drop that." Jake said.

(Jordall) Ax said, we looked at the man Carman had brought along.

"Aximilli." He said. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

(You survived as well) Ax said.

"Obviously." Jordall said.

"Umm..." Marco said, Carman looked at Ax.

"How do you know my brother?" Carman asked.

"This is getting interesting..." Rachel said, Carman flashed her a glare before turning her attention back to Ax.

(We both served on the same vessel) Ax said.

"The one that we found you in?" Jake asked.

(Yes) Ax said. (Though he was already a warrior, and no doubt now a war-prince)

"Yes, actually." Jordall said. "But I'm sure they've revoked my title by now, I've done a lot of things I wasn't supposed to."

(I do not have trouble believing that) Ax said, we laughed. (You have always been...reckless and without regard for rules)

"You can make everything sound negative." Jordall said.

"Hey, try hanging around him for three years." Rachel said.

"I feel your pain." Jordall said, Rachel smirked, he sighed. "So..um, what's up with the Andalites? They just leave?"

"Yeah, and I don't think they're coming back." Jake said. "Deranam looked pretty angry."

"Deranam _always_ looks angry." Carman said. "But I bet he was."

"Normally, I would throw a party because they left. But there's two things we need from them." Jordall said.

"Help defeating the Yeerks." I said, he nodded.

"And Estrid." He finished. "I really don't want to just leave her up there, she's confined and miserable."

"Let's break her out then." Rachel said.

"If we do that, we can forget any chances of them helping us." Tobias said.

"We can forget those chances now." Marco said. "We've already got two of their own, what difference is a third going to make?"

"He's got a point." I said. "They're not going to help us even if we were dying in a pool of our own blood."

"Maybe we could _make_ them help us." Marco said.

"Make them?" Tobias asked. "And how the crap are we supposed to do that?"

"The Yeerks." Carman said.

"Lure them to the Andalites, they'll have to fight." Marco said.

"There's not many Yeerks left because of Rachel." I said, Rachel smiled. "Only about a thousand, maybe two."

"It won't be hard to rally them up in one place." Jake said.

"Visser One, of course, will be the hardest to get." Jordall said. "I say, we take him together, then maybe try to free some of the Hork-Bajir." I will say something about Jordall, he's charming, ruthless, intellegent, but he's also caring.

"That would work." Toby, who had not said a thing since Jordall and Carman arrived, finally decided to speak. "My people could capture them, try to get the Yeerks to release them willingly. If not, we can just hold them for three days."

"So we take down Visser One, the Hork-Bajir try to free some more of their kind, and we just hit the Taxxons?" Rachel asked.

"What about the humans?" I asked.

"Taxxons won't take long, so we could capture them just like the Hork-Bajir are doing." Tobias said. "Humans offer less resistance than Hork-Bajr, so we could do it."

"We don't have to do this alone." Carman said. "There's a ton of people in the valley who can help, and they can do it here."

"I'm willing to listen to this, go on." Jake said.

"We take down Visser One as planned, but don't take all the free Hork-Bajir with us. Some are still in the valley, waiting. The Hork-Bajir take human and Hork-Bajir controllers to the valley, where everyone else either gets the Yeerks to come out willingly, or tie them up for three days." Carman said. "They'll leave them in the valley, and keep going back for more. Once we're done with the Taxxons, we can help."

(That could work) Ax said. (While we take Visser One, the Hork-Bajir start taking his troops.)

"Good." Jake said, nodding. "Toby? What do you think?"

"I think it's brilliant." Toby said. "And I think it will work."

"Good." Jordall said. "In the meantime, I have abosolutely no good battle morphs."

"I could take him to the gardens." I said.

"I'll go with you." Carman said. "I'm getting kind of tired of the cheetah, been doing it for six years."

"Anyone else?" I asked.

"Sure, but I think I'm going to stick to my gorilla." Marco said. I knew it was just to be around Carman.

"I will go as well." Toby said. "I only have a human morph."

"Okay, but you'll need to morph quickly. Hork-Bajir in a zoo? No way." Tobias said.

"You can go tomorrow morning, right now, you need to sleep." Jake said.

"So do you." Rachel, Marco, and I said, Jake sighed.

"Fine." He said.

"Good. And you better follow through on that." Rachel said.

"You're all too stubborn for you own good."

"So are you!"


	15. Marco: A Race And A Broken Heart

"Hmm...lion?" Carman asked, looking at me. "What do you think?"

"Oh...no. We've had some...unfortunate..encounters with lions." I said, she nodded. I heard laughing. "Toby really likes your brother, huh?"

"He likes her too." Carman said with a grin. Jordall and Toby were ahead of us, Cassie a little ahead of them, leading us.

"Bears?" Cassie asked, turning around.

"No." Carman said.

"No thanks." Toby and Jordall said, Toby - in human morph - blushed, Jordall grinned. Cassie smiled and turned back around, we continued walking.

"Okay, _that_ could get annoying." Carman said.

"Any cats?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking jaguar." Jordall said.

"Cats are cool...I want something cute." Carman said, Cassie laughed.

"Cute?" Jordall asked, turning around and walking backwards with his eyebrows raised.

"Hey, I can't want a cute battle morph?" Carman asked.

"Cute _battle_ morph." I said. "You're wanting to make Visser One pet you?"

"No...I just want to be something cute!" Carman said. "I like cute animals..."

"Panthers." Cassie said, Carman went to the window, looking down at the panters.

"No." Carman said, shaking her head.

"Jaguars." Cassie said, walking. She stopped at a door, bent down and grabbed a slab of meat out of a bucket, and held it out. "Give it to one, aquire it, and get out _fast_."

"Got it." Jordall said, he began to morph. Well...actually..._de_morph. He became an Andalite, which, I might add, had a little more muscle than Ax. He grabbed the meat, Cassie opened the door, he went in. He came out a few minutes later, and morphed back to human.

"That was easy." He said.

"Next?" Toby asked.

"Leopards." Cassie said, we began walking again. "We have two types of leopards, jungle and snow."

"Snow?" Carman asked. "The cute little white ones?"

"They are cute, even if they're full grown." Cassie said, we stopped at a door. "The snow leopards are in here, usually, they're quite calm. Unless you mess with their cubs, but you'll want a full grown one."

"I think I'll do it." Carman said, Cassie handed her a piece of meat, and opened the door. Carman went in, she came back a minute later, a smile on her face. "They're _so_ cute."

"I know." Cassie said, smiling as well.

"What's next?" Toby asked.

"Tigers, then hyenas." Cassie said. "Jake's battle morph is a tiger, we have some white ones here if you want. And hyenas are like dogs, except they've got a lot more power."

"Hyena." Toby said. "Jake's already got a tiger."

"Okay. There's other animals here, if you want to look around." Cassie said.

"No...hyena is fine." Toby said, we stopped at another door. Toby demorphed, Cassie handed her a slab of meat, Toby went in. She came out, and remorphed. "They are...interesting animals."

"Yeah, I'm not sure whether to laugh at how stupid they look or marvel at how much power is in those small things." Jordall said.

"I guess that's it. Unless you guys want anything else." Cassie said.

"Birds." I said. "Bird of prey morphs, they might as well get one now."

"You three up for it?" Cassie asked.

"Why not, flying sounds fun." Jordall said.

"Tobias described it for me once," Carman said. "Before I met you guys, it sounded amazing."

"It is." I said. "Another good part about it, the bird already knows how, so you just have to listen to it. And Tobias."

"He does seem to give us directions a lot..." Cassie said with a laugh. "Even though he knows perfectly well we know where we're going."

"Falcon." Carman said. "I want a falcon."

"A hawk would be nice, Tobias's morph has never ceased to amaze me." Toby said. "Besides, I _was_ named after him."

"I dunno...eagle or falcon." Jordall said, we stopped.

"We've got an Ornate Hawk-Eagle here, he's very pretty." Cassie said, she pointed. "See?"

"Wow." Jordall said. "Now _that's_ cool."

"He is very amazing." Toby said, smiling.

"I'll go get him." Cassie said, walking in the enclosure. She came back out with the bird on her arm, Jordall demorphed. Toby demorphed while Jordall aquired the hawk-eagle.

Everything was kind of boring after that. Toby aquired a Harris's Hawk - which, might I add, looked a lot like a red-tailed hawk, except more brown - and Carman aquired an Aplomado Falcon. Which was black and orange, very bright and colorful, and reflected Carman's bouncy personality as well as the cute snow leopard did. It was silent on the way back, and it wasn't until we were in the valley when anything interesting happened. Cassie went to talk to the other Animorphs.

"I wanna try out my jaguar morph." Jordall said, forgetting Carman and I were even there, and looking at Toby. "Run with me?"

"Okay." Toby said, they demorphed and morphed.

(I'll give you a headstart, 'cause I'm faster) Jordall said.

(Is that so?) Toby asked flirtatiously. (I guess we'll have to try and see)

(You're on) Jordall said. (Three, two one, GO!) They raced off, even with each other. Carman and I walked, kind of tailing them. They stopped, catching their breath.

(Well?) Toby asked breathlessly.

(You win) Jordall said, breathing heavily. (I owe you one)

(Hmmm...what do I want?) Toby teased.

(No way, I get to choose) Jordall said.

(Well, fine. What do I get, then?) Toby asked, the jaguar stepped forward, rubbing his head on Toby's. She did the same to him, they stopped. (Cute, Jordall)

(Thanks, I aim for cute) Jordall said with a laugh.

(And you pull it off perfectly) Toby said, it was quiet a minute.

"Come on." Carman said, taking my hand and walking backwards, pulling me with her. "Let's leave them alone."

"Is that all?" I teased. Once we were far enough away, she stopped walking. She turned to face me.

"No." She said. "Though I have a feeling you didn't mean that."

"No, but if you have something else to say..." I said, taking her other hand. "You have my full attention." She shifted her shoulders at my touch, then looked at me nervously.

"I dunno...I just..." She shrugged. "Jordall and Toby..."

"Yeah, they were kind of..." I said, trailing off.

"It just makes me feel weird..." Carman said.

"You know why, don't you?" I asked, stepping closer to her, she shifted her shoulders again.

"Yeah..." She whispered, looking down. Her face - well, if she had been looking at me - was millimeters from mine. I put my hand on her back, she sighed, closing her eyes. The look on her face was so...peaceful. I pulled her to me, holding her with both arms. She laid her head on my chest, I held her tighter. I kissed the top of her head, she laughed.

"You are _so_ beautiful..." I whispered, she shifted, pulling away. "Carman?"

"No." She whispered, walking off. She brushed past me, and soon she was out of my sight. I sat on the ground with a sigh.

I had never felt more miserable in my entire life.

**Wow, that was sad. And mushy...I'm sorry, but I **_**had**_** to get it out of my system.**


	16. Carman: The Definition of a Rainstorm

**Okay, I had someone ask where Toby got the morphing power, which is a good question. Because I really don't know. All I can say is, she got it before they lost the blue box. Which is a really pathetic answer, but oh well.**

"YOU DID WHAT?!" I leaned my back against the wall, sliding to the floor. Long story short, that was Rachel yelling. And it was because she had saw Marco, handed him a crack on a silver platter, and he didn't say anything. So I decided to tell the girls what happened, and this is what I got.

"Don't yell at her like that, Rachel." Cassie said.

"Okay. I'm sorry Carman, but what posessed you to do that?" Rachel asked.

"I thought you _hated_ Marco?" Loren asked.

"I can't help but feel sorry for him after what she did!" Rachel exclaimed, pointing to me, I groaned. Cassie sighed, gave Rachel a look that said 'see? now look what you've done', and sitting down next to me.

"While she may be brash, Rachel is right." Cassie said, it was Rachel turn to groan. "I just want to know why."

"I don't know why!" I exclaimed. "That's the problem!"

"You don't remember?" Cassie asked, I shook my head.

"Well Marco can't tell us what made her do it, now can he?" Rachel asked, this time softer. "She _has_ to know."

"Rach, just calm down a second and think about it." Loren said, standing up and placing a hand on Rachel's shoulder. Rachel had been uncomfortable around Loren, I didn't know why at first, Loren was nice and I liked her. Cassie told me that it was because Tobias hadn't told Loren about him and Rachel being engaged. If that was me, I would have _made_ Tobias tell her so I wouldn't have to avoid her like that. Loren came to sit with Cassie, the two of them were so peaceful and nice. I wish I could be like that. I wish _Rachel_ could be like that.

"Loren." I whispered, she looked me straight in the eyes.

"Carman...were you scared?" I couldn't look away from her, that would confirm what she thought and...she was right.

"Yeah."

"I thought as much."

"Now, you owe someone an apology." Cassie said, I sighed.

"Don't you give her that." Loren said, I shrunk back a little. "Carman, she's right."

"So?"

"So you've got to go apologize." Cassie said.

"No."

"Carman." Cassie said, I sighed.

"You know what? It's late anyway, why don't you get some sleep. If I let you, will you apologize to him on your own terms?" Loren asked, I nodded. I _was_ tired. "Okay, get some sleep."

"Goodnight." I said, getting up and leaving the room. I sat down on my bed, I heard the door open. Rachel shut the door behind her, sitting down next to me.

"I'm sorry I yelled."

"It's okay, you were right."

"You must be terrified."

"Yeah, I am."

"I know what it's like, to be that scared of something. I may seem fearless, but I'm not. There are a lot of things I fear."

"Like losing Tobias?"

"Or you. Or any of the Animorphs, Jordall, Toby, Jara, Ket. All the other Hork-Bajir, my family, all the people living in the valley. Even Marco."

"Even Marco, huh?"

"You know, if I was in third grade, I would have been jealous of you." She said. "See, in third grade, I had this crush on him."

"I'm sorry...mind if I laugh?"

"No. Go right ahead." She said, laughing with me. "But then we started fighting over something, and I didn't mean any of it. Either did he, we were just playing games. And then when the Animorphs started, we did the same thing. I realized he was one of my best friends, and we a lot alike."

"If you think about it...you are."

"Yeah, but we're not completely the same. Marco, for instance, isn't as fashionable as I am." She said, I laughed. "And I've got more of a temper, and less of a forgiving nature. And if I was _this_ nice to you, what do you think Marco'll say?"

"I guess he'll say something good..."

"Guess? He will." Rachel said, standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with Tobias."

"Have fun." I teased, she rolled her eyes and laughed, shutting the door behind her. I turned the light out, eventually falling asleep.

-::-

(Carman! Don't do that!) Jordall exclaimed, I laughed.

(Please) Ax said, annoyed.

"Sheesh, I just _tapped_ you." I said, yeah, I had tapped both of them. But still.

(What do you need?) Ax asked.

"I can't want to spend time with my brother and you?" I asked. "You are my species anyway."

(Go hang with Tobias, _he's_ your species) Jordall said. ('Cause it is _too_ early to be annoying me.)

"Well fine, but I couldn't find him if I wanted to. He and Rachel are out flying." I said.

(Figures.) Jordall whispered.

"You _are_ grumpy this morning. _Dang_." I said. "You weren't like this _yesterday_ morning."

(That was only because Toby was with us yesterday morning) Ax said, an Andalite grin on his face.

"Oh, that's right." I said, joining in. Jordall groaned.

(I will _NOT_ say a word)

(You just did) Ax said, Jordall got the BIGGEST annoyed look I had EVER seen in my life.

"Dang, you look like Deranam when I told him to go to-" I stopped, Jordall gave me a shocked look.

(You did not) He said. (CARMAN! You know good 'n' well you are NOT supposed to say that!)

"I was ticked..."

(Doesn't matter.) Jordall said. (You could have told him to go to ponyland or something)

"Which is much worse." I said, and no, not sarcastically. "All that singing and pinkness would drive him crazy."

(_Pinkness_?) Ax asked, turning a stalk eye to look at me.

"I know, it's not a word. But does it really matter?" I asked.

(Carman?) I looked up, a bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk landed on a branch above me.

(We saw Marco in the field, thought you'd like to know) Rachel said.

"Oh...okay I guess." I said, the bald eagle's fierce gaze rested on me.

(Carman...you promised Loren) She said.

(Who?!) Tobias asked, looking at Rachel. (Loren?)

(Yes, you got a problem with that? Sheesh...) Rachel said. (Carman, _promise_. You _promised_ her.)

"OKAY OKAY! I GET IT!" I exclaimed. "I'm going!"

(Good) Rachel said, she and Tobias lifted off. I sighed and headed toward the field, leaving Ax and Jordall confused.

-::-

"I promised Loren, Rachel, and Cassie I would explain. And I will, because they're right, you deserve to know why I did that." I said, he turned around, looking at me with sad eyes. I _really_ wanted to just tell him it was all right. But then there was that big looming black cloud...my fear of being loved.

"Oh..." Marco said quietly. "I guess so, okay."

"It was me, not you. And I'm sorry, I just...Estrid was the _first_ person to _ever_ show any amount of love to me. And all these people in the valley, and I've _never_ had _anyone_ express more than platonic feelings for me. It's always been friend or foe, never anything more than that. And you just...I don't know _what_ I'm supposed to do about you. It's different with you, and you...I feel _so_ confused."

"I can tell." He said softly, grinning. I smiled.

"I do sound pretty twisted." I said, sighing once. "_Now_ do you understand why I can't do this?"

"No." He said. "Actually, I don't understand."

"There go my hopes." I whispered.

"What I mean is." He said, stepping toward me again. "I understand why you're uncomfortable. But that doesn't mean you have to give me up all together."

:"What else can I do?" I exclaimed. "Over your head, you see nothing. Me? I see a big black raincloud, complete with thunder and lightning, telling me to buzz off."

"I would never tell you to buzz off." He said, he looked up. "And you're wrong...I _do_ see something over me. The sky, and you know what's in the sky right now?"

I looked up. "A big black raincloud."

"Complete with thunder and lightning." He said with a grin.

"And that means I have to go." I said, looking back at him. "See?"

"There's not going to be lightning, maybe a little thunder. But mostly just rain." He said.

"Rain is never good." I said.

"It's far from that." He said. "It may seem gloomy sometimes, but I told myself a long time ago that I would choose to look at everything in a good light."

"Good light?" I asked. "One, ow can you look at a storm in a 'good light'?"

"Well, the plants and animals know a storm will bring them water, which they need to survive."

"Haha..." I said, he grinned.

"Then there's my favorite, the way movie writers see it."

"Movie writers?"

"It's not exactly something I can explain." He said, he looked me straight in the eyes. "But I could show you."

"I guess." I shrugged. "Depends, how long is this demonstration going to take?"

"Doesn't matter, however long you want to take." He said, stepping toward me again. It started to rain, I looked up, when I looked back to Marco, he kissed me.

"That's what you meant. Because in all the movies-"

"They kiss in the rain."

"This is cool."

"Oh, so you like me now?"

"Never stopped."

"You just stopped showing it."

"Oh...I guess I did."

CLAP OF THUNDER Marco took this moment to put his arms around my waist and hold me.

"Well, now we know what thunder is." He said. He looked down at me, a smile on his face. Right then I felt _so_ guilty, and I'm sure my face showed it. Because he suddenly looked at me with a little bit of pity, and hugged me. He just held me a minute, like he did in the forest yesterday.

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"So you'll take me back?"

"One condition."

"And that is?"

"Lightning."

"That's one thing I have yet to look at in a good way." He said, I laughed.

"Hmmm...if rain can be this good...lightning has to be better." I said, thinking, pulling back so I could see his face.

"How better?" He asked, I laughed.

"Well, if that was rain..." I said, sliding my arms around his neck. "Then this is lightning." I kissed him, hard. He slid his arms around my waist, pulling me closer.

"I love lightning."

**I love that line...hehe. It took me ALL DAY to write this, so I'm not writing another chapter until tomorrow.**


	17. Jake: Prince Shan

"I'm _bored_." Carman complained, Rachel and Tobias groaned. We were sitting on the porch, just the Animorphs, Carman, Jordall, and Toby. Watching the rain fall from under the awning. I had to agree with Carman, it was boring. But, we had nothing else to do. The only thing interesting going on was Ax and Tobias de-and-remorphing and the lightning, and everytime _that_ happened Marco had this weird smirk on his face, and would steal a glance at Carman, who would also smile.

"You've been saying that the _whole_ time!" Tobias exclaimed.

"And Ax has been _constantly_ moving the whole time, I don't see you yellin' at him!" Carman shot back, Ax shot her a look.

"It is only because rain makes Andalites restless." Ax said. "You are as well. But I do not see how Jordall can be so...content."

"I've been on Earth for the past four years." Jordall said. "I'm used to it."

"Ax has been on Earth for three years, and he _still_ isn't used to it." Rachel said.

"Hm." Jordall shrugged. "But he's right Carman, you _are_ restless."

"Ugh...I _hate_ it when you're right." She said, shifting her shoulders. Jordall smiled.

BOOM We all either jumped - Carman, Ax, Tobias - or turned straight around to look at the rest of the valley and the sky - Toby, Jordall, Rachel, Marco, and me. Cassie laughed.

"It's just thunder." She said with a smile, I leaned all the way back in my chair. Just what I needed, to get embarrassed around Cassie. Carman groaned, and leaned her head back.

"This is _torture_."

"Jordall, Aximilli, Carman." Toby said, they all looked at her. "What is that?"

"Where?" Carman asked, squinting. Toby pointed, Carman's eyes got wide. "Andalite."

"They've seen you by now." Cassie said, as we all stood up.

(Do not worry, she may stay. We are not with Deranam, in fact, we are looking for him) An Andalite war-prince stepped up on the porch.

"We don't know where he went." I said. "He left two days ago, and we haven't seen him since."

(Hmm...that is not good.) He said. (I am Prince Shan-Dural-Assoth.)

"My name is Jake." I said. "And that's Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias."

(Jordall) Prince Shan said, Jordall smiled.

"Shan."

(I see you've found your sister. Hello, Carman is it?) He asked, she nodded, and smiled half-heartedly. Not sure whether to trust him or not. (I know you are wary of Andalites, and you have reason to be. We did not know you were even being held until recently. Deranam's request had been denied, but we were fools to think he would accept that.)

"He would not have left orbit, he knows Carman is still here." Ax said.

(Aximilli, am I correct?) Prince Shan asked, Ax nodded once, Prince Shan smiled. (And do you have any suggestions on how to find him?)

"No. But I am sure we will find one." Ax said, Shan smiled once again.

(Good.) He said. (In the meantime, I'd like to know _exactly_ what Deranam is up to. And I am sure you know.)

"He wants us to be like Hork-Bajir are to Yeerks." Carman said coldly. "Give us abilities to fight the Yeerks, drive them back for you."

"We wouldn't accept that." Marco said. "There's a catch, isn't there?"

"He can kill us with the touch of a button."

(That is where his greatest dishoner lies) Shan said, keeping his main eyes focused on Carman, one stalk eye behind him, and the other at Jordall and Ax. (You did not try to leave until he decided to get rid of you, correct?)

"He wasn't hurting me." Carman said. "Besides, he had a good idea. We can fight back ourselves. And that's exacly what I'm going to do."

(An honorable statement.) Shan replied, Carman smiled. (That is also what the rest of you should do.)

"Excuse me?" I asked.

(Ahh...she has not told you.) Carman looked down.

"There was no way they could use the enhancements, so I just kept my mouth shut. I've learned it's best to do that most of the time."

(Now is not one of those cases, but I see your point) Shan said. (Carman is not the only experiment.)

"We are too." Tobias said. "Carman told me, when I first met her. And I didn't say anything, because she obviously hadn't thought about it before she told me."

"How is that possible? We've never met Deranam before now." Rachel said.

(You have met Estrid-Corrill-Darrath, have you not?)

"Estrid did this to us?" Marco asked.

(Yes, but for your own gain. To help you defeat the Yeerks.) He said. (Estrid and Deranam both had good intentions, but Estrid did not invent a way to kill you, nor did she activate your abilities. And would only do so with your approval. She is the only one who knows how. Therefore, we have to find her.)

"Rescue her, more like." Carman said. "Deranam's got her locked up for helping me escape. He would have locked Rachel up to, and he was on the verge of it, but we landed in the valley. So he didn't."

(Yes, Deranam has always been...brash.) Shan said. (We would like you to help us, you know more about that ship than we do.)

"I can't do it without them." Carman said.

(I did not think you would)

"You should go with us." Jordall said. "Do something stupid like we used to do."

(_You_ were the one who did those things, I stood back and laughed at you)

"Right...whatever you say..." Jordall said. "Let's just go, rain's dying down, we won't get wet."

(I am _already_ wet)


	18. Marco: The Ride

**I'm sorry I haven't updated! Really, really, sorry! So enjoy the chappie!**

I _hate_ Andalite ships. Why? Because it was taking _so_ long to get to a ship that was _in orbit_. And I was _bored_ out of my _mind_. Which brings me back to the beginning: I hate Andalite ships.

"Not just you." Carman whispered. "I'm bored as all get out."

"This is taking too long. Deranam's ship is only in orbit." I said. "Sheesh..."

"I know." Carman said dully. She perked up, grinning. "Let's play a game."

"What kind of game?" I asked.

"I dunno..." Carman shrugged. "All we can do is sit here..."

"Which brings us back to number one: We're bored." I sighed.

"You're just _so_ negative..." Carman shook her head.

"Hey, I get that way when I'm bored."

"Carman?" We looked up. It was Cassie.

"Yeah?"

"Come here a minute." Cassie said. Carman and I stood up, walking over to them. There were who knows _how_ many Andalite ships in the space outside of us.

"Which one is Deranam's?" Tobias asked with a laugh. "They can't find it..."

(Okay, enough with that. Just tell us which one.) Jordall said quickly.

"Umm...that one, that one, or...that one!" Carman pointed to three ships. She was in deep thought. "No to that one."

(That leaves two) Shan said.

"It's..." Carman made a face. "I don't know."

(Will it help if we get closer?) Ax asked.

"Maybe." Carman shrugged. Ax nodded. We were closer to the two ships.

"They're identical." Jake said.

"Just fire at both, the one that doesn't disappear is the real one." Rachel said simply.

"It won't disappear." I said. "Haven't you ever seen _Star Trek_? They just phase out for a few seconds. The one that actually _takes_ the damage is the real one."

"Whatever." Rachel rolled her eyes.

(He _is_ right) Shan said. (No offense to you, of course)

"None taken." Rachel said. She glared at me, Tobias gave her a look. She sighed, and stopped glaring.

(Hmmm...if we fire at the wrong one, the real one will fly off. We've got one shot at this) Jordall said.

"Wouldn't it be the one that our ship doesn't 'sense' or whatever you call it?" Tobias asked.

"No." Carman said. "There's no way to tell without firing."

(I know) Ax grinned in his own weird Andalite way. (We can't fire at both, so we fire at neither)

"I'm confused." I complained. Carman sent me a small smile.

(Just wait until one moves. The one that goes _behind_ the first, is projecting the one ahead of it) Ax explained.

"How do we get them to move?) Toby asked.

"We pretend to have an engine malfunction, and spin towards one of them." Jake suggested.

(That would work) Jordall said. (Wouldn't it?)

(If we don't crash, yes) Shan answered. (But the odds of crashing are slim)

"Good." Jake said. I grinned.

"Brace for impact." I said in a deep voice. Rachel rolled her eyes, we all sat down.

(I must warn you, you're _going_ to feel this) Jordall said. I felt Carman grip my hand tightly, I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Saying we had a bumpy ride, would be an understatement.

-::-

(Direct hit to the engines! OH YEAH!) Jordall exclaimed. We'd barreled toward them, and exactly as Ax predicted, one was directly behind the other. We regained our balance, and fired.

(I will just...stay with the ship. Someone has to) Shan said.

(Awww...come on) Jordall said. (But someone _does_ have to stay with the ship.)

"I know how." Carman said. "You warriors and Rachel go have your fun."

"Haha." I said. She grinned.

"I'm staying with Carman." Cassie said.

"I will too." Toby said.

"Let's do it."

Three guess who.


	19. Rachel: Breaking Out

**Rachel:**

I was pumped.

We were in the enemy ship full of Andalite warriors. What did we have? Three Andalites, two wolves, a tiger, and a hawk.

We would so kick their rears.

(Hey, what's this?) I asked. We were about to pass a locked door. Well, at least I think it was locked.

(Hmmm...) Ax said. He looked at the door curiously.

(I have a feeling that it is what we came for.) Shan said.

(As I've learned to trust his gut feelings,) Jordall said. He used his tail to precisely cut of the lock. (We should go in.)

(We should be careful) Jake said. (That outer lock was too easy)

(He's definitely got a point) Jordall said.

(I will go in first, then Rachel, Ax, Jake, Marco, and Jordall bringing up the rear.) Shan said.

(Why am I always the one in back?)

(Because I chose. Tobias, feel free to enter anytime you like) Shan said.

(I feel loved...)

(Sorry to be so blunt, but...Jordall, shut up)

(Wow, I didn't know Andalites could say that.) Marco commented)

(Three, two, one...) Ax counted. Shan opened the door and went in. I went behind him, Tobias flying overhead, Ax behind me. It was a small room, three guards. They looked surprised to see us.

Shan quickly tail fought swiftly and gracefully with one, taking him down easily. Ax was tail fighting with a second, not as good as Shan, I might add. I took the second guard from behind, he wasn't surprised, but he couldn't handle both me and Ax. I jumped on him, slamming his head into a wall while Ax used his own tail to bend the enemy's tail. Jake, Marco, or Jordall one had taken down the third, Shan was already working on getting the second and more heavily locked door open. Jordall joined him, Ax too. Jordall got so frustrated with it, he slammed it with his tailblade.

(Calm down) Shan said. (It won't work manually)

Jordall groaned. Tobias landed on my back. Didn't hurt. (You better do it soon, twelve Andalites are coming. And they're definitely not arisths)

(There has got to be something we are missing.) Shan complained. Ax went to a console on the other side of the room, fiddling with it a bit.

(We'll try it Jordall's way then) I said. Tobias, sensing danger if he stayed on any longer, landed on a console.

I slammed into the door.

-::-

Estrid:

There was a loud noise. Something had hit the door. A few minutes later, another slam. There was now a dent in the door. I hit it with my tail blade repeatedly, there more more slamming noises coming from the other side. I tried to cut the door off, it did not work. I hit the door again. And again. And again. I moved out of the way just in time, the people on the other side had made such a blow, the door basically flew and hit the opposite wall. I peered out the door cautiously, seeing who had came to rescue me.

(Hello Estrid)

(Prince Jordall! Prince Shan!) I said happily.

(Not just us, we brought the morph-capable humans) Shan explained. Two wolves, a tiger, a hawk, and...

(AXIMILI!)

(Hello) Aximili smiled at me.

(We've got to go now) Tobias, the hawk, said.

(Come on.) Jake, the tiger I believe, said. We left, and came to a small ship attached to Deranam's.

"Estrid!"

(Carman! You are unharmed.) I said.

"For the most part." Carman said with a smile. I believe it was human sarcasm. I am not certain.

(Get us out of here, guys) Jake said.

(Already on it) Jordall said. We left, and I felt much better being with the occupants of that ship. Though I hardly knew most of them.

I had heard about Prince Shan and Prince Jordall, I had only met them once before. I had met Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, and Aximili on my short stay on Earth. I had never met the Hork-Bajir, Toby. But she was pleasant. I had known Carman for six earth years, since she was much smaller. And of course, I had got to know Rachel a little better when we helped her escape the blade ship, and when she and I helped Carman escape. It was pleasurable to be with them.

Especially Aximili.


	20. Cassie: History

**Okay, this is ending soon. Mainly because I don't have many ideas left for this, but enough for a few more chapters. Oh, by the way, 'Shan' is pronounced 'Shawn'. I forgot to say that earlier. Anyway, enjoy the chappie!**

**Cassie:**

When we arrived back at the valley, it was different than I'd anticipated. I mean, I didn't expect them to throw a party or anything, just, you know...say 'good job' or 'way to go, you did it'. Some recognition that the others boarded an Andalite ship and freed an innocent prisoner. I guess I'm just ready for this to _end_, you know?

"Cassie?" I looked up. Carman sat down beside me.

"Hey, Carman."

"What's on your mind? You're thinking hard, I can tell."

"The war. I just want it to end." I admitted. "I'm tired of this."

"I know what you mean." Carman sighed. "You tried, and it could have worked. I'm sorry about that. And I'm going to do whatever I can to help you win."

"Carman, you don't-"

"I want to." Carman said firmly. "You're my friends, and if I can help I will. But I will tell you, there's a secondary reason I'm fighting."

"Secondary?"

"You fight the Yeerks not just because they're taking over your race, but also because they're just evil?"

"I have to say I do. Is that your reason?"

"Kind of." Carman shifted her position.

"If you don't want to tell me you don't have to."

"No, it's just..." Carman sighed. "I've only told one person that..." She took a deep breath, and looked straight at me. "I've never fought the Yeerks before, but I hate them. Ultimately. It's natural."'

"You've been around Andalites for six years."

"That's not it." Carman said. "I _am_ an Andalite."

"I figured that, Jordall is your brother. But I've always wondered why you were in human morph more for more than two hours at a time."

"That's the thing. I was born human, but my parents were Andalites. They were experimenting with morphing, in the early days of it, and became human nothlits. Jordall, at the time, just became an _aristh_. We had an uncle on the ship, so my parents knew he was all right."

"I've never heard of that before." I said. "But you're the first?"

She nodded. "Jordall recieved transmissions from my parents, every month on the 12th. Which changed after I was born, to every month on the 5th. My birthday. I vaguely remember him, because I was three when mom and dad died. He was nice to me, and never thought I was inferior for being human."

"That's Jordall." I said with a smile. "If you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"

"I was staying with my aunt." Carman said. "She had come with them to Earth, and hadn't became a nothlit. They died in a car crash. They were walking across the street, and some drunk driver ran them over. I stayed with my aunt, but she..."

"Carman?"

Carman took a deep breath. "I got lost on my way to school when I was ten. And I never saw her again."

"I'm sorry." I said.

"It's okay." Carman sighed. "I just, I was looking forward to seeing Jordall then. She'd told me about him, about my parents. She made one transmission to Jordall after they died, she was old and didn't like the hassle. He made a direct course to Earth to come get me. He was still in the military, and they knew that my parents had been there, and that the Yeerks _were_ there. My aunt told him that too. So it seemed like he wanted to avenge his parents, like he was supposed to do. No one knew about me. Which was his real reason."

"He's a good brother, Carman."

"I know." Carman grinned. "And I love him. I used to talk to him all the time, my aunt didn't like setting up transmissions, so I did it myself. Which is how I knew Shan."

"You must have known him since he was an _aristh_." I laughed.

"Yeah. He's my cousin, actually." Carman said. "Bet you didn't expect that."

I laughed. "Heck no. But you're family, and that's good."

"His dad, my uncle, died." Carman explained. "So Jordall and Shan stuck together. Shan was the only one who knew about me besides Jordall, and he kept the secret. He seems like another big brother."

"Well, you've got two great Andalite war-princes who won't let anything touch you." I smiled. "I've got an idea."

"What are you waiting for? Let's tell Jake and the others." Carman grinned.

And we took off.


	21. Rachel: Let's Do It

**Rachel:**

"Send _who_ into a death trap?" Jake raged.

Yeah, it was _that_ bad. I can't believe _Cassie_ thought of this plan. It was a good plan, mind you, but..._Cassie_? I think that was what was unsettling Jake the most. I didn't blame him.

Anyway, we were sitting around on the porch of some cabin. The one we were sitting on when we met Shan, the really big one. Marco was standing up, leaning sideways against the cabin, being quiet and calculating. Cassie and Carman were standing a few feet away from the few feet of porch Jake had started using for pacing. Jordall was his Andalite self, standing on the grass, his arms crossed. Even as an Andalite he did _not_ look happy. Shan was standing next to him, thinking and listening. Ax and Estrid were with them, just listening to the plan. Toby stood with them, because she was too tall for the porch, and listened as well. I was sitting on the floor of the porch, knees brought up in front of me, casually and comfortably leaning against the outside of the cabin. Tobias was standing in hawk form next to me, I was casually - and without anyone noticing - petting him. I know, it's weird to pet a red-tailed hawk.

(Rach.)

"Sorry," I said quietly. I moved my hand.

(No. That was cool...)

I laughed. "Okay." I started petting him again, he laughed.

(This is weird...)

I smiled at him, then looked back at Cassie and Carman.

"If we do it right, no one will die." Cassie was saying.

"So let me get this straight," Marco said. He stood up straight, and looked at Jake, Cassie, and Carman. "You're sending Carman up to the blade ship. Like Rachel did LAST time, except Jordall and Shan are going to be hidden in morph and watch her back. While me, Cassie, Jake, Ax, Estrid, Rachel, and Tobias will do what we did last time. Toby will bring some free Hork-Bajir to help us, and ta-da, no more Yeerks. Am I right?"

"Pretty much." Carman said. "But it'll be fine. I can do it, for one. I have to be human, yes. But I'm stronger and faster.than a normal human, and I'll have Jordall and Shan to help me."

"They won't be expecting the same attack twice." Cassie said. "Which will give us the element of surprise, once again."

"They'll have tightened their security, but we've got five Andalites instead of just one. Which is a better chance of hacking into their network." Carman said.

"Five?" Jake asked. "Do you know something I don't?"

"Actually, I do." Marco said.

(Me too.) Tobias added.

I laughed. "And me."

"What? Is it everyone _but_ me?" Jake asked.

"No." Toby answered.

(I do not know either, Prince Jake) Ax said. He'd taken to calling Jordall, Shan, _and_ Jake 'prince'. Which made sense, Jordall and Shan are war-princes while Jake has been 'prince' for three years.

(I know...) Jordall said.

(Of course _you_ know.) Shan shook his head. (But I know too, and I have a feeling Estrid does as well)

(Yes, I do) Estrid said.

Jake looked at Cassie, who nodded. "Anyone gonna tell me, Toby, and Ax where a fifth Andalite is hiding?"

"Try in front of your nose." Marco said. He walked up to Carman, and gestured semi-dramatically.

"You're kidding." Jake said. "She's human."

"Yeah," Carman said. "I'm human. But my parents were Andalites. Human _nothlits_."

(Don't tell me you've never wondered why she's human with an Andalite brother) Jordall said.

"I never really thought about it." Jake said. "But it makes sense."

(Yes, I would have to say it does) Ax said.

"I think we should get back to the subject at hand. It was important to know of Carman's heritage, but we need to focus on defeating the Yeerks." Toby said.

"Okay. 1, they've moved the blade ship." Jake said. "Problem #2, Carman, Jordall, Shan, do you need small morphs?"

"I've got a cockroach and a granddaddy longlegs spider." Carman said.

(I've got some random spider I picked up.) Jordall laughed.

(I don't have a small morph) Shan said.

"And that's it?" I asked. "Every base covered?"

"I think so."


	22. Jordall: The Blade Ship

**I know, it's been forever. It would have been a shorter wait, but I didn't remember I started this chappie, let alone finished it. And I think that was about a month ago (tries to look innocent) Well, enjoy the chappie. And if you think I'm worthy of it after making you wait this long, leave a nice review D (please!)  
**

**Jordall:**

(How're you guys doing?) I recognized Jake's voice.

(Fine if you're not considering the fact that it feels wrong leaving you fighting against horrible odds while we're just spiders) I said.

(I meant Carman's answer. Maybe Shan's. But not yours.)

(I know, I'm just bored so I figured I'd annoy you)

(Ah. So how _is_ it going Carman? Shan?)

(Good. We're almost to the main room.) Shan said. (It'll be only ten more minutes at the most. Can you handle it that long?)

(Yeah. We're doing good. Estrid, Ax, and Marco are already on the pool ship.) Jake reported. (I'm not sure how many Hork-Bajir we've lost, but so far I've only seen three of ours.)

(How do you tell which ones are free?) I wondered aloud.

(We made sure everyone had armbands.) Jake said quickly.

(We're in the main room, Jake.) Shan reported.

(Good luck.)

(Good luck to you too) Carman said. (Shan, Jordall, you there yet?)

(I am, Shan has some lag.) I said with a laugh.

(In other words, I lost a leg, but I've still got seven. I'm there..._now_.) Shan said. He halfway limped over to the side of the room I was on.

(Okay, I'm demorphing.) Carman said.

I watched as a lone spider across the room began to change shape and turn into a young human girl.

Jet black curls, pale skin, bright green eyes...My little sister.

I suddenly felt protective, _really_ protective. There were risks, true. But if Shan and I did our job right, she'd be unharmed.

Okay. Maybe if I kept thinking that over and over I wouldn't slip up.

Shan would do his part right, he was always good about keeping personal bonds, issues, and conversations at bay until all was safe.

(Morph.) We both said. Shan and I laughed, then began to demorph.

We were both almost fully Andalite, and Carman was already human. She didn't even have to morph, she was already stronger, faster, and more agile than any normal human.

We finished our morphs, then started swiping at everything in sight except Carman and each other.

Shan was fighting his best, and Carman was fighting Tom, who was in jaguar morph. She was already starting to morph too, into what, I'm not sure, but it had four legs.

(Tom's dead.)

It was short, simple, casual. There was no regret in her voice. Of course there wouldn't be, she knew how to handle herself in war, plus she never knew him.

I looked over breifly from my fighting, and saw a young female Andalite at the controls of the blade ship.

Another pretty form of my sister's.

(Carman, what are you doing?) Shan asked.

(Blocking off this room and releasing posion into the rest of the ship.)

(You are the _best_ little sister ever. _Ever._ You rock.) I said.

She smiled like an Andalite. (Thank you.) Then she looked back down at the screen. (Done. Any Yeerk in the ship is now dead.)

Shan sighed. (The Humans, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxons too?)

(No. I released _linra_. Humans and Hork-Bajir are immune. So we now have dozens of free Hork-Bajir and Humans.)

(_Linra_?) Shan asked. (That kills_Yeerks_?)

(Of course it does, and it's not a shame you didn't know. Estrid taught it to me.) Carman said.

(Ah. Of course she'd know) I said. (But that's interesting, we'll have to remember that.) I shook my head. (_Linra_, of all things to kill Yeerks...)

After five more minutes, the room was cleared.

(GUYS! GUYS, WE DID IT!) Carman exclaimed happily. She started to demorph.

(One more Taxxon and...WE'RE DONE!) Rachel exclaimed.

(We're gonna head on to you, Jake.) Shan said.

(Carman, you come with me, we're gonna get everyone settled.) I said. (Make sure everyone's all right)

(I'll try to get this thing working, but I'll need help. Mind bringing up a few former controllers who know how to fly this?)

(It's more than likely they were all up here.) I said. I laughed. (Feel more than welcome to use one of them.)

Carman and I left, but before we were out of the room, she had one last comment. She gave Shan a grin.

"That one's twitching."


End file.
